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Beowulf....just finished reading about it in English class. Turned in a 6 page essay and got an 85. Went and saw the movie, as unfaithfully inaccurate it was. Safe to say I know a good bit about the Geat's history and who he is. But I know one thing, if he was ever an actual character, and if he was alive today, he would have one hell of a time tearing out the insides of whoever made this pathetically awful mockery of his "good" name. This game is a mess. Yet another pathetic attempt at producing a God of War clone, although this one is so bad, Kratos would kill himself for this game even being a CLONE of his. Thats for introduction, you'll see my reason soon...

The story begins where you are on a flaming(?) island with your apparent friend Barrack (ever heard of him? No? Me neither....) After spending ten or so minutes mercilessly beating up crabs with your fancy , button mashing 4 attack combo, you then arrive on an island to fight some sea monsters ( :rofl: ). After "defeating" them you begin on your way to defeat a monster named Grendal for a King and his people. This soon sets a chain of events leading to Beowulf's kingship...and death.

Graphics don't look half bad...when you standing still. As soon as Beowulf starts moving, things become messy. To avoid wasting time for wording, I'll just say that the game soon looks like it was shoved up a horses ass then shot out through its mouth. Yes, its that bad. No need harping on what has already been quite nicely stated.

Sound is so bad, its funny. I can't even remember whether each level had music or not, and Beowulf's single grunt for every attack he does gave me a borderline migraine. It just doesn't work. Voice acting during cut scenes is, at best, only mediocre. Looking through the eyes of someone who would care, the lip sync is practically non-existent. Mass Effect this ain't.

Gameplay....wow.
That practically sums it up. But for the reader, I'll explain WHY its so freaking terrible. X button: Roll. Square: Punch. Triangle: Single, unchainable smash attack. Circle: Grab. Now this could even be moderately acceptable. But the makers of this game couldn't LET it be acceptable. The mechanism for attacks is so broken up, when trying to change directions during attack either never works, or when it does, spins you completely the wrong way. Not even a slight auto aim, and when the length of your weapon reaches barely past you face, that quickly becomes a problem.Blocking attacks does nothing. At best it'll make him take a small amount less damage, but still fly 12 meters northeast. Commanding your Thanes is an absolute needless and pointless feature. Your teamates suck, just like you; theres no point in sending a team of idiots to do one idiots job. Carnage mode is a mockery of power-modes such as Rage of the Gods. Yes, your invincible, but with no extra powers and still having the ability to be thrown from here to there with an enemy's pinky, its as worthless as they come.

Replay value for Beowulf...an oxymoron.

Overall:

Graphics: 2.5/5
These graphics don't even belong on a broken NDS. it is fun watching the background have a seizure every time you move, though.

Sound: 1.5/5
Terrible. I even feel bad for the people who had to MAKE the voiceovers.

Gameplay:1/5
Punch, punch, punch, get punted like a football. I am Beowulf.

Replay Value: 0.5/5
Haha, replay value....haha....

Overall:

I guess the basic point I'm trying to say it STAY AWAY. You'll be glad you did. Don't even get this if someone is willing to PAY you for taking it.

The MINIVIEW hath spoken! ...

Mass Effect is the start of what should be an RPG revolution, if RPG creators know whats good for them anyway. Mass Effect is a game set in the year 2148 after humanity discovers an advance called Mass Effect that successfully advances Earth's tech by 200 years. You are commander Shepard, male or female who had a past as deep as his/her future. It is soon placed upon you to save the earth from the geth civilization and Saren, they're "prophet". You will travers countless worlds, make decisions that will influence the universe. And this isn't a lie. This is the real deal.

This game is the peak of RPG evolution. Every choice, every action, every thing you do determines whether you, the universe, your friends, civilians, anybody and everybody, whether they live or die. In every conversation every choice you have is said in a full dialog with reactions fitting the choice you have chosen. Through words and a kind will, or threats and an iron will, EVERYTHING you do effects the world around you. You can became any character you can possibly imagine good or evil, or the often forgotten grey area that exists in the middle. You can even become romantically linked with others. This isn't your average romantics in a game. You have evry choice. You can talk to them, interact however you would in reality. However, unlike reality, you can actual get lucky in Mass Effect .

The visuals are absolutely some of the best out there. I have yet to see a game with such an amazing level of artistic design and execution as mass Effect. Textures and features are as detailed as they get, resulting in unbelievably realistic characters. Even the aliens look real! The problem: Slowdowns. Quite rare, and usually only during fight extremely explosive fight scenes, they are still there.

Gameplay is stunning. Gears style combat created extremely well, mixed with an RPG element that has no equal. The RPG allows you to became whatever you want, and allows you to effect the universe however you please. Combat is iffy at first, though, but you'll get the hang of it fairly quickly. Slowdowns annoy me constantly though, and glitches happen from time to time. Not enough to actually impact your experience very much.

Sound is just as spectacular as graphics. the loud booms of the ships, the sound of krogan warlord vying to attack or the haunting sound of undead creepers. Music is very fitting, as suspenseful sci-fi plays at points necessary as the adrenaline rush plays with intense combat scenes, and so on. The real deal is the dialog. The greatest voice acting a game has ever received since Bioshock.

This
Game
Rocks.

Final score:
This game is truly outstanding. This is a Pinnacle of the RPG genre, and there is as of yet not a single game with such innovation and choices as this gold in a DVD. ...

Tekken: Dark Ressurection
Publisher: Namco Bandai Group
Developer: Namco
Genre: Fighting
Players: 1-4
Reviewed by gdf

Tekken, a series seeming to have lost it's way in recent years, has always been a friend of Sony. This hasn't changed for the legendary series' first outing on the Playstation branded handheld. Dark Resurrection was originally a spruced up version of Tekken 5 for the Arcades, but the PSP seemed like a perfect format for the title to be given a commercial release on, and it works a treat. The Namco brawler feels like it has found its true home and somehow, you seem closeer to the action than ever.

The player feels every kick, punch and special move like they have just been smashed in the face with a rock covered in diamond spikes. The absence of rumble on the portable seemingly makes no difference to the intense fights and you hardly notice its not there. The bouts are fast paced and fun, great for (I hate this phrase) "Gaming on the go" (Eugh), as they come in tiny bitesize chunks and can be done one at a time if you need to keep putting the PSP on sleep. Loading times are very impressive- even for a PS2 game these would be quick- so you can get into action quite quickly. Of course, the Intro movie when you load the game up is great and looks mighty fine on the LCD screen.

This moves me along to the next point: the visuals. The graphics in Tekken were always fairly impressive, even on PS1, but here the game properly shines. The character models are especially excellent, with curves and smooth lines rather than bumps everywhere. The backgrounds are impressive too, and the small, constrained arenas also look the part, with shattering ground or flying coins (in one level). The PSP has often been susceptible to awful (occasionally game-destroying) ghosting, but that it not in evidence here. Movement is smooth and swift and doesn't seem blurred that strange yellow colour you can get. All in all, I'd go as far as to say this is the best PSP graphics have gotten so far.

The action itself is instantly gratifying and is finely balanced between button bashing and combo mastery. Combos are usually simple and effective and there is a wide enough variety to satify both extremes. Noobs to the fighting genre will be able to string together a couple of moves and oldies (have their fingers not succumbed to arthritis yet) should go for the ludicrous 10-hit combos and suchlike. There is a training mode for fighters to try out and a combo challenge, where you try to nail each characters' moveset in as quick a time as possible. The action feels right as well, as opponents provide sufficient challenge to those who want it. Bouts can just as easily time out as be over in seconds and there always seems to be a fine-line between victory and loss, though it never looks to be unfair. The PSP's often limited and flawed control layout doesn't seem like a problem either and you always feel in total control of your characters. When you lose it is most definitely your fault.

Though Arcade provides the main meat of the action, there are a raft of other modes to take into account. Story is fairly self explanatory, and sees you guide a character through their KOIF tournament. Quick Battle is just as simple but very fun, and is great for diving into a fight without fear of losing your ranking, which I'll come back to later. One of the more interesting modes is Dojo, which sees you work through an Island of martial arts training houses to become the champ. Dojo is a lengthy trudge, and can feel a little repetitive at times, but mostly proves quite a fulfilling alternative to arcade. There are also dozens of options to be tampered with, and a rather fun Edit mode, where you spend Gold earned in-game on new costumes for your characters.

And there are a lot of characters. Two new additions Lili and Dragunov feel useful in a fight, especially the former, whose devastating kicks can whip even the largest opponent. Another commendable part of the game is that the list is well balanced. The big, slow ones aren't always the useless *******s they had been before and the light ones don't feel like a bunch of weak ass pussies. My personal favourites are Jack-5, the superpowered robot, and Lili, the aforementioned newcomer. When you use a character in either Arcade or Dojo they are given a percentage and ranked, so after prolonged play you can see who you are the best with. The system works surprisingly well and makes you really determined to win each round.

Tekken seems to have found a new lease of life on PSP and proves an excellent companion to the system. Not only are the fights rapid and violent (not MK violent mind), but you feel every blow and look absolutely sumptuous to boot. It is a well balanced game and another good example of "How to port a game to PSP". It seems to ...

Killzon: Liberation
Publisher: SCEA
Developer: Guerilla
Genre: Action
Players: 1
Reviewed on PSP by gdf

The original Killzone was released a couple of years ago on the PS2 after an enormous amount of hype, mainly orchestrated by magazines. When it came out it proved a very enjoyable, if unoriginal game, and wasn't quite the "Halo-beater" that it was widely tipped to be. After the implausibly beautiful PS3 trailer for Killzone 2 appeared the hype once again stirred. Over a year on and with no more news concerning it, fans felt lost. Not any more.

Killzone Liberation is a pint sized version of the shooter that continues the story of the first game. You play as Keller from the first game- on a mission to hunt down the evil Helghast officer General Metrac- but from an altogether different perspective (quite literally). Instead of being in first person, the game's developers Guerilla decided to take the player a step (or twenty) back from the action and have a psuedo top down view a la Metal Gear Solid. Amazingly it seems to have worked and the game proves more fun and rewarding in the new view. The controls are very well adapted to the portable's limited button arrangement and the game maintains the feel of the original. Your man can roll, melee, shoot, grenade, reload, order squadmates, perform context actions, crouch, cover and even strafe thanks to good thinking on the developer's part. It almost feels like Gears of War Mini at some rather excellent parts of the game, especially due to the clever cover system...

You press R to crouch and if you are behind cover when you do so then you attatch to it. To fire over you press square, and thanks to a laser sight and some subtle auto aiming, blasting enemies is easier than ever; of course this is compensated for by the nails-hard Helghast, who can take more lead than a stack of peiodic tables (I know, that was awful). The system works surprisingly well, and this is good, since without it getting past Level 1 would drive most to suicide. Another life-saver is the strafing, which is activated by pressing L. This makes you lock-on to the nearest enemy and lets you circle round like a little crab with guns-for-claws. It is well implemented and becomes second nature after fifteen minutes' play.

There are only eight guns in the game and they only become available by progressing in the story, but they are a tight, well balanced lot, all of which have spcific strengths and weakness'. My personal favourite has to be the magnum, a great combination of fire rate, accuracy, power and reload speed. Sadly, only one gun can be carried at a time, which doesn't help when you want a sniper or a bazooka and a shorter range weapon, but have to settle for the most boring one purely because you simply wouldn't be able to progress using just the more powerful or longer range weapons. On a happier note, throwing grenades has been well adapted. You simply press circle to enter grenade mode and tap fire when you want to throw. When in this mode, a set trajectory appears and you move around, locking on to specific targets if necessary.

One area the controls fall down slightly is in the conrol of the Tanks, a bizzare mixture of shoulder button rotation and weird face button driving. Thankfully these are few and far between enough so as not to disrupt the rest of the game. Another potential sticky area is the VIP escorting, though thankfully this is one game where a) they can take care of themselves and b) they do what you tell them to. This is the kind of thing that puts many next gen games to shame and is a reflection on the excellent AI on show. Enemies will crouch behind cover like you and help each other out, trying to flank your position. Of course this can be put to rights with a few blasts of the shotgun or a lobbed pineapple.

The action in the game is tense and exciting, especially when you have a teammate in tow. A tap of select brings the pace of the game to a crawl, and you select a position, enemy or your character and they will go there/kill them/follow you. Sadly there aren't nearly enough of these sections as it's a great way of ordering the AI; very streamlined and simple, but effective. Another commendable element of the game is the graphical punch it carries, with some excellent effects and enemy death physics. The visuals are well above par for a portable game and it impressively matches up to the first game on the creaky old PS2.

Multiplayer is great in Liberation and an online download will be out soon- enabling you to take on the world wirelessly- thus extending it's already decent lifespan. Combined with the story and excellent challenge mode, this could keep the UMD in your PSP for months to come. A warning however; this game is HAAAAARD. The levels are long and arduous and you'll be swearing at the screen more than once ...

Tony Hawk's Project 8
Publisher: Neversoft Entertainment
Developer: Activision
Genre: Sports
Players: 1-4
Reviewed on Xbox 360 by gdf

Over time, it is inevitable that a series will get tired and run out of ideas; especially if it happens to be an annually updated sports game. After a while change is demanded and has to be put in place for the survival and continuation of the franchise, but it can be difficult to make massive overhauls without changing the core experience. This is where the last couple of Hawk games have struggled. 2003's THUG was a natural expansion of the gameplay offered in games 1 to 4 and opened up the world to fans of the series. The sequel, THUG 2, ended up recreating the humour of Jackass with its stupid stunts and rocket powered Segway-riding midgets. After that, it was demanded that the series deviate from this before it became overly tired, but the result was a bit uglier than expected. THAW attempted to be a jack of all trades, but ended as a pathetic loser of most. The skating was put on the back foot as you could nip around the supposedly load free world (loading screens were disguised as suspiciously bland alleys and tunnels linking parts of the world) in a car or BMX; a rather bad idea considering the only consistent name in the series' titles is Tony Hawk, y'know, only the most well known skater on the planet. THAW turned out to be a mini disaster area and there were some doubts over the series' future. Happily, all the wrongs have been righted thanks to THP8, the lastest from Activision.


From the off it appears a much more skateboardy experience. The environments in the free roaming city are choc full of trick oppourtunities, and much of the joy can be found from simply crusing around, grinding and flipping away. At the beginning of career you create your character, and straight after that it's off to skate. The plot goes like this: Tony is building up a team of the best 8 amatuer skaters he can find (see what they've done there) and he has stopped off in your town. It's up to you to climb from number 200 to the team and this can be done in numerous ways.

The great thing is that you can go at your own pace and pick and choose what you want to do. There are some missions and competitions which will improve your ranking a good few places and there are also the rather excellent spot challenges, addictive little nuggets of rank boosting fun. They can be activated when you are going about and are just graffitied words on the ground like "grind" or "Jump". The further, higher, or whatever, you go, the better grade you get ("Am", "Pro" or "Sick") and the more rank spots you will gain. the beauty is that even if you fail you can just carry on to your destination or restart quickly. Spot challenges can be tough but great fun at the same time and goals like "break 15 bones" are always welcome.


This brings me on to the next point of the gameplay: New features. Thankfully, THP8 is bursting at the seams with great new introductions to the series. Most noteworty are the bails, focus mode and the awesome "Nail the trick" er...trick. Bails have been overhauled and you are now able to direct the fall of your skater, bounce him (or her) off the ground and get up quickly. There are some moments of absolute joy when your protagonist goes flying and gets totally smashed up (complete with wince-inducing bone crunch sounds). Focus mode is a more serious but nonetheless useful addition. When the bar at the top left of the screen fills up, you click in the left stick to slow time down, very useful for tricky grinds and manuals or sustaining a combo. To stay in slow motion, you have to keep the bar filled by doing more tricks, so the more skilled you are, the easier a long combo gets. Also, it looks very cool grinding round a level 6 times and landing a million point combo at a snail's pace. The final large addition is the much lauded "Nail the Trick". At any time during play, you click in both sticks to slow time down, but this is different. Instead of keeping control of the skater's body, the camera zooms to his feet, and each stick controls its respective foot. Yet again this is very cool, but good timing and skill are required to land anything more than a one or two trick combo. Most of the time this feature produces some decent points, especially when used as part of a larger combo or in conjunction with focus. These features are great to have and make the skating both more enjoyable and realistic.


The game's soundtrack is also surprisingly good, with great bands such as Wolfmother, Kasabian and Klaxons all featuring. THP8 also has very tidy visuals and, for a cross-platform title, looks fairly next gen on the 360. Overall, THP8 really takes the series ...

XCM Cross Battle Adapter 2.0
Manufacturer: XCM
Site: Buy from Play-Asia / Buy from ConsoleSource / Buy from Amazon
Price: $69.99


Overview : The famous Cross Battle Adapter now comes in a new version, 2.0, with new functions to swap all your controller's functions!

The Cross Battle Adapter 2.0 is an adapter to allow you to connect your Xbox 360 wired controller to your PS3 console for use with PS3 games.

The XCM Cross Battle Adapter 2.0 is built with a new function for swapping the controller’s triggers and bumpers. You can also swap the functions of A, B, X, Y buttons (Example: Set the function of A button to the X button or set the function of B button to the Y button, etc) and swap the functions of 2 analog sticks as well! The PS3 Six Axis mode and rumble function are also supported. The best adapter in the industry just got better!

Features:

• Compatible with ALL PlayStation consoles and models.
• Requires the wired Xbox 360 controller.
• Built in Rapid Fire / Turbo for each button with independant controls.
• Easy to Use - Just Plug and Play!

Quality/Usability : This review is an update to the XCM Cross Battle Adapter. There is also a Cross Battle Adapter PLUS that supported rumble that was released after the original CBA.

Comparing the two Cross Battle Adapter, there is a big cosmetic change. The Cross Battle Adapter 2.0 comes in a purple casing with a clear purple back. The front has a big backlit LED "XCM" logo with toggle switches. Like the original CBA, the switches are for the TURBO function. Each switch is also labeled to tell you what each buttons are. For instance, the [X] button on the PS3 is the [A] button the 360. The R1 button on the PS3 is the RB on the 360.

To connect the CBA 2.0, plug the Cross Battle Adapter 2.0 into the PS3 console and the LED "XCM" logo will start flashing blue. After plugging in the Xbox 360 wired controller (yes, you must use a wired controller) and the blue LED will stop flashing and stay lit.

Cross Battle Adapter 2.0 gives you the ability to use the tilt functionality. But its not what you think. There is no motion or tilt sensitivity. Instead, if you switch the TILT button to "L" on the CBA2.0, the function of the LEFT analog stick of the 360 will now replace the PS3 controller's tilt function instead of its own function. If you switch to "R", it will take the function of the PS3's tilt function. If you dont want the tilt function at all, leave it on "N". So if you have it set on "L" or "R", you lose the original function of the analog stick.

The CBA 2.0 allows you to swap buttons. You can swap the A, B, X, Y, RB, LB, RT, LT, RC, LC, START, BACK and Directional Pad. An example is to switch the A and B button. Press the "S" button and the LED indicator will light up, then press the B button and the indicator will stop blinking. When you press the A button, the light of the LED indicator will turn off. This means the swapping procedure is complete and the B button now has the function of the A. If you want the A button to have the function of the B, simply repeat the steps above but change buttons.

To get back the original button settings, simply press the "S" button and the LED indicator will light up. Press the A button and the indicator will start to blink. Press the A button again and the light indicator will turn off.

To swap analog sticks, press the "S" button and the indicator will light up. Press any direction of the RIGHT analog stick and the indicator will turn off. To get back the original function, just repeat the steps. The easiest way to get back all the original functions is to press and hold the "S" button for 3 seconds. The LED indicator will blink quickly and all functions will be set back to their original function.


Here is a video of the Cross Battle Adapter 2.0 working on the new PS3 Slim:

With the lit XCM logo and "S" button indicator, swapping/remapping buttons and confirmation is much easier to notice. Like the Cross Battle Adapter PLUS, rumble is also available on 2.0.

Conclusion : Overall, the XCM Cross Battle Adapter 2.0 is a big improvement over the original Cross Battle Adapter (we didnt have the chance to review CBA PLUS since the only difference was that it had rumble available). However, I dont know how much of a use the tilt feature will come in handy. I didnt use it much considering I'm use to using the analog stick. For others they may prefer it. The swapping of buttons is a great addition which gives gamers the ability to configure button layouts to their liking. Unfortunately, you still need to use a wired controller. When I mean wired, I dont mean a wireless controller with the USB cable attached to it. This the only drawback to the Cross Battle Adapter 2.0.

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PlayStation 3 Wireless QWERTY Keypad
Manufacturer: Sony
Site: Buy from GoldenShop
Price: $49.00


Overview : The Wireless keypad for the PLAYSTATION®3 system provides the freedom of easy to use texting and mouse input capabilities, all while maintaining full gameplay functionality in one easy-to-hold device. This Bluetooth® device attaches to any DUALSHOCK®3 or SIXAXIS™ wireless controller and enables effortless internet browsing, e-mailing and instant messaging on the PlayStation®Network and PlayStation®Home. The unique touch pad feature allows for convenient scrolling and mouse input on the PS3™ system on-screen display. Dedicated short cut keys provide instant access to ‘Message Box’ and other online communication applications on the PlayStation®Network.

By integrating all these features in a sleek and elegant design, Sony Computer Entertainment, plans to further enhance online interactivity on the PLAYSTATION®3 system.

Features :

• QWERTY keypad designed for fast, thumbs-only typing.
• Touch pad mode turns the main key area into a touch pad. When touch pad button is pressed, user can not use the keys for character input but can slide her finger on this area to select something on the screen. On the internet browser, user can see a cursor when this mode is set on.
• Dedicated short cut keys provide instant access to text-based communication applications on the PLAYSTATION Network.
• Automatic pairing with the PS3 system via a USB cable.
• Charges by connecting it directly to the PS3 system using a USB cable.

Technical Specifications

• Bluetooth® 2.0
• Up to 33 feet (10 meters) operating range
• USB 2.0 full speed (for battery charging and Bluetooth® pairing only)
• Rechargeable Lithium-ion polymer battery (Capacity – 610mAh)

Quality/Usability : With new generation consoles and online play, theres voice/text chat. But what if you dont have a headset with microphone, let alone wanting to hearing immature people/kids smack talk or their squeaky voice. How about now wanting to suffer selecting each letter with the d-pad or on-screen keyboard? Yes, you can connect a USB keyboard to the PS3 but it so big and requires you to put your controller down. Like the Xbox 360 Chatpad, Sony has released their own QWERTY keypad for the Sony PlayStation 3.

The keypad is small, lightweight and fits over the Dual Shock or SIXAXIS controller and is held in place with a spring-loaded clap. On the face of the keypad are your typical QWERTY keypads as well as ESC, TAB, CAPS, SPACEBAR, BACK, ENTER, etc. Also on the keypad is SELECT, START and PS button. But some additional buttons that make it easier for gamers is the ability to view messages and friends list with their own dedicated buttons. With these two dedicated buttons, it cuts down on time and hassle of having to navigate through menus after pressing the PS button. Another nice feature is the touch sensitive keypad allowing gamers to swipe across the keypad surface. But the keypads themselves are a bit small and will require some getting use to.

The keypad has its own battery and does not run off the Dual Shock or SIXAXIS power. So this requires a Mini-USB to charge the battery.

To use the touchpad, you simply press the button that looks like a pointing finger cursor and the enter keypad becomes a touchpad. The idea is to sweep your finger over the buttons to navigate the XMB or web browser. The concept is nice but fails at what it does due to lack of a smooth surface.

Conclusion : Overall, the PlayStation 3 Wireless QWERTY Keypad makes typing a lot easier. However, they keypads are a tad bit small and the touch sensitive keypad isn't as responsive as I would like it to be. Another feature I hoped that they had incorporated was taking power from the controller rather than having its own rechargeable battery. This means another item needs to be charged. Is it worth the $50? Depends on if you're a heavy texter. It would look more eye catching if the MSRP was the same as MS Chatpad ($30).

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PlayStation 3 Eye USB 2.0 Camera
Manufacturer: Sony
Site: Buy from ConsoleSource
Price: $44.95


Overview : Revolutionize your interactive gaming and online communication experience with the PLAYSTATION®Eye USB camera. The PLAYSTATION®Eye has the ability to reduce background noise and focus on the spoken word for smoother, more accurate speech recognition and transfer. The fast frame rate allows for improved tracking and responsiveness for pristine video quality. The PLAYSTATION®Eye is also engineered to perform well in low-light conditions and includes a dual action lens for close-up and full body options.

EyeCreate™ Software

EyeCreate is the first video editing software for the PLAYSTATION®3. Using EyeCreate™ and the PLAYSTATION®Eye camera, you can capture video, audio and even photos which can then be edited into a movie. An extensive list of special effects such as Color Filters, Distortions, Art Filters and Motion Trails can give your video a professional touch. There are even advanced features such as Time Lapse and Stop Motion to experiment with. Once you're done creating and editing your masterpiece, Export it to watch it on the Video folder of the XMB. EyeCreate™ will let you express yourself and get creative!

Features :

• Built-in 4 microphone array
• Chat with up to 6 people at once
• Ultra fast frame rate of 120 frames per second ensures pristine video quality
• Engineered to work well in low light conditions
• Includes free EyeCreate Software download

Quality/Usability : The PlayStation 3 Eye USB 2.0 Camera is the successor of Sony's popular EyeToy for the PlayStation 2. The PS3 Eye is not only available by itself, it also comes with The Eye of Judgment collectible card game. This review will be based only on the camera.

The PlayStation Eye works exactly like its predecessor, EyeToy. Setup is easy. Just plug it into the PS3 via USB. Upon setting up the PlayStation Eye, you can preview what the Eye is looking at by simply going to "Camera Device Settings" than "Accessory Settings". This will show you what the Eye sees and you can change between 50hz or 60hz.

Above the lens are 4 microphones underneath the mesh grill. These microphones can detect where the voice is coming from. Underneath the microphones are two LEDs. The red LED on the left shows that the Eye is in use. The blue LED on the right shows that it is plugged and powered on.

What's nice about the Eye is that there is ZOOM as well as an auto-focus. You do not have to manually twist the lens in order to focus on the picture. It does it for you without you touching it. However, there are two settings on the lens where you will have to twist the lens for normal distance and ZOOM.

Since I no longer own a EyeToy, I can not compare the both side by side but the quality of the image on the Eye is pretty good. Not clear and crisp as you would find on a camera/video camera but better than your cellphone video and webcams.

The PS Eye comes with a EyeCreate editing software. It allows you to save photos, videos, and audio clips onto your PS3 hard drive. Once you have saved your images, you can add visual effects to it.

Videos can be recorded as big as 640×480 (up to 60fps) in video-capture mode. It can record as low as 320x240 (up to 120fps). Videos are saved in MPEG4 format.

Video chatting worked great and looked sharp. Depending on connection, you will notice a image lag but the audio doesnt lag/skip.

Conclusion : Overall, PlayStation 3 Eye USB 2.0 Camera works great and will come in handy when games and the PS3 finally takes advantage of it. As mentioned The Eye of Judgement takes full advantage of the PS Eye. Burnout Paradise only takes advantage of it for the license pictures. There is a lot of potential for the Eye especially when HOME comes out. Hopefully more games will also take advantage of the Eye as well.

Too bad there is only one ZOOM. So if you're sitting far away from your TV, the Eye will be capturing a lot of the background as well as your surroundings instead of just majority of you.

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